UN peacekeepers injured by Israel

[EasterIssland]

After all the news this week regarding IDF threatening peacekeepers in Lebanon this is news now.

from bbc

Two UN peacekeepers injured after Israeli tank fires at watchtowerpublished at 12:50 British Summer Time
12:50 BSTBREAKING
Two UN peacekeepers have been injured after an Israeli tank fired towards a watchtower at a UN base in southern Lebanon, the UN says.
According to a statement by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the observation tower at its headquarters in Naqoura was directly hit, causing the peacekeepers to fall.
"The injuries are fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in hospital," the UN says.
It adds that Israeli soldiers also fired at a UN base in Ras Naqoura, "hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system".
There's more in their statement which we'll bring you shortly.
UNIFIL is a UN peacekeeping mission created in 1978. It monitors hostilities and helps to ensure humanitarian access to civilians.

I think the problem for the IDF is that, in Lebanon, there are UN peacekeepers and the press to witness their actions, unlike Gaza.
The Israeli government does not like this so now the IDF are trying to intimidate the UN peacekeepers to leave.
Nasty.

Have you any evidence for this accusation?

Yes the injuries are light but that's not the point it was obviously done to threaten them and force them to leave.

Dulra - it wasn't an accusation. Under the ceasefire than ended the 2006 conflict, all Lebanese groups were suppose to disarm and be integrated in to army, and no armed forces were to be permitted between the blue line and the Litani river. The UNIFIL peacekeeping force was supposed to ensure compliance with this, but they clearly haven't, as you can tell because Hizbollah has been digging itself in (metaphorically and literally) for years.

It wouldn't be the first attack on UN personnel by Israel in Lebanon. Didn't the same thing happen in 2006 and they said they must have been caught in the cross fire but later on it was discovered that they were killed by an Israeli precision bomb.

Yep.

Perhaps it's best to take them out so,
but despite their failings I know if I was a citizen in Lebanon I would prefer them to be there than not.

Was it the Irish troops that have been shot at?

No don't think so

I don’t think they’ve specified

edit to add. Irish td has said it wasn’t Irish
https://x.com/SimonHarrisTD/status/1844364292201775207?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

According to BBC they are indonesian.

Peacekeepers are supposed to monitor and observe peace processes. There was a lot of controversy when Irishman Sean Rooney was killed by Hezbollah- many calls to move to from peacekeeping to peace enforcement. They are not authorised to shoot except in self defence or similar circumstances

Israeli ambassador to the UN has asked the peace keepers to move back 5km. The UNFIL have refused to move from their positions and said there is no reason for them to be targeted by Israel so no need to move.

Well the IDF have admitted firing at them but they say they warned them to take cover first or something like that so that apparently make it OK.

Oh, that's fine then. We now live in a world where it's ok to deliberately target, attack and injure peacekeepers from the UN, so long as you tell them to duck. And people will genuinely accept that...🤦🏻‍♀️

In 2006 as part of the peace deal in Lebanon year, the UN Security Council approved Resolution 1701, which called for a full cessation of hostilities by the combatants, a full Israeli troop withdrawal from Lebanese territory and crucially Hezbollah's withdrawal north of the Litani River. This would be enforced by the deployment of UN and Lebanese army troops to maintain the peace.
In this way the Litani River would act as a buffer zone between Hezbollah and Israel.

However Hezbollah had no intention of ever honouring this UN resolution and soon began deploying its fighters and rockets south of the Litani River.

Basically there is an unwritten understanding between the UN forces and Hezbollah where the UN forces agree to not do their job, stay away from Hezbollah forces and turn a blind eye to Hezbollah breaking the UN Resolution and launching missiles against Israel in return for Hezbollah not attacking the UN Forces.

Sadly what happened to Private Sean Rooney was that he and a colleague got slightly lost, ended up in a Hezbollah stronghold and as a result was killed by Hezbollah forces (who of course under the UN Resolution 1701 shouldn't have even been there).

The UN launched an investigation into Private Rooney's death but have failed to publish the findings as this would clearly show that the UN have been turning a blind eye to the fact that UN 1701 Resolution is not being enforced and that Hezbollah are firmly established south of the Litani River.

www.thejournal.ie/sean-rooney-inquest-6444040-Jul2024/

And thus is a surprise?

There are discussions to be had regarding the effectiveness of the peacekeeping forces and their remit. I don't think civilised discussions should include unprovoked attacks with drones and tanks. Maybe I'm in the minority though. Even if I think someone is a bit shit at their job, I don't tend to think that's a reason to shoot them.

The IDF took out UNFIL cameras. Wouldn't want anyone seeing what they get up to.
Of course IDF has deliberately targeted and killed an Irish UN solder before.

It’s not UNIFIL’s job to fight Hezbollah.
Resolution 1701 states clearly that is the job of the Lebanese Army:

• Monitor the cessation of hostilities."
• "Accompany and support the Lebanese armed forces as they deploy throughout the South, including along the Blue Line, as Israel withdraws its armed forces from Lebanon."
• "Coordinate its activities referred to in the preceding paragraph (above) with the Government of Lebanon and the Government of Israel."
• "Extend its assistance to help ensure humanitarian access to civilian populations and the voluntary and safe return of displaced persons."
• "Assist the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) in taking steps towards the establishment between the Blue Line and the Litani river of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL deployed in this area."
• "Assist the Government of Lebanon, at its request, in securing its borders and other entry points to prevent the entry in Lebanon without its consent of arms or related materiel."

You could not be more wrong.

The Irish soldier was killed by Hezbollah

No. Lebanese armed forces are the only armed forces permitted between Litani River and Blue line. The Lebanese government is responsible to enforce no Hezbollah/compliance. UNIFIL is only to monitor and assist.

Not Dermot McLoughlin. The IDF killed him. It was deemed a deliberate attack. Two senior IDF soldiers were not named but were disciplined.
And something familiar to all of us now, another UN soldier said the IDF fired on the ambulance coming to help.
Deja Vu

@Dulra RTÉ Archives | Collections | Dermot McLoughlin Honoured (rte.ie)

Basically there is an unwritten understanding between the UN forces and Hezbollah where the UN forces agree to not do their job, stay away from Hezbollah forces and turn a blind eye to Hezbollah breaking the UN Resolution and launching missiles against Israel in return for Hezbollah not attacking the UN Forces.

Nope. UNIFIL did their job, it is the Lebanese government that did not act on the observations of the UNIFIL to comply with Res 1701 to pull Hezbollah back and their justification for that was Israel was ignoring the Resolution too by repeatedly violating Lebanese air space.

UNIFIL hasn’t “turned a blind eye” because they informed everyone whenever cross border clashes happened.